Sinophil to have public float before CoD Manila opening

Belle Corp is expected to widen the public ownership of Sinophil Corp – the Belle unit that holds its gaming investments – ahead of the first phase opening of City of Dreams Manila (pictured in a rendering), expected by year-end.

“That’s in our thinking at the moment,” Willy Ocier, Belle’s vice chairman and also chairman of Sinophil, told GGRAsia on Monday.

Referring to Belle’s current holding in Sinophil, Mr Ocier said: “We feel it’s not necessary to own 90 percent. We think 67 to 70 percent is good enough for us.”

Mr Ocier had said after Sinophil’s stockholders’ meeting on Friday, that the firm’s gaming holdings were likely to attract interest from public investors. During the meeting, the shareholders approved to change Sinophil’s name to Premium Leisure Corp and to increase the firm’s authorised capital stock from 16.13 billion shares to 43.63 billion shares.

After the consolidation of the gaming assets in Sinophil, which will be entitled to half of the earnings from gaming operations at City of Dreams Manila, Belle will own close to 90 percent of the future gaming arm, enough to comply with the 10-percent minimum public float requirement to remain listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The public float of shares in Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp – a joint venture partner in the City of Dreams Manila casino resort – rose by 7.55 percentage points following the share placing and subscription transaction announced by Melco Crown Philippines on June 18 and 19.